


Axis Mundi

by monicawoe



Series: Daystar [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Psychic Abilities, Season/Series 06, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-02
Updated: 2011-02-23
Packaged: 2017-10-15 08:00:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/158753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monicawoe/pseuds/monicawoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam finds what he's looking for...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Axis Mundi

**Author's Note:**

> Follows [Daystar Ascending](http://archiveofourown.org/works/158388/chapters/228468)

Sam walked further and further down the road, past countless bodies (well, not bodies, not really) of angels from all three sides of the battle. The road, a two-lane highway as it always was for him, was covered with the incandescence of bloody feathers.

It was amusing to Sam that his mind still insisted on translating everything into human concepts; bodies, blood, feathers; when really all he was looking at was the tattered remains of thoughts that had once been given a life of their own. The architect of those lives was of course still mysteriously absent.

 _Finally_ , thought Sam as he saw the faint outline of a skyscraper in the distance. Now that he knew where his destination was, he stopped walking and willed himself into the building.

That never got old.

The lobby looked suspiciously empty. _Show yourself_ , Sam thought, at nothing in particular.

"You...you can't be here!" came a voice: shaking, frightened.

Sam stared for a minute, trying to remember. "Tahariel, is it?"

The angel nodded and swallowed, "You can't be here. Please, leave."

"I don't want to leave. I just got here, and I've been searching for quite some time now..." Sam could see the bank of elevators on the far wall. He walked towards them.

"No! Stop!" Tahariel grabbed Sam's arm.

Picking off the bloody feathers now stuck to him, Sam kept going and hit the elevator button marked "UP."


	2. Apotropaic

Bobby lowered his beer bottle and stared at Dean for a moment before saying,"So, what do you need me to do?"

"I need you to find a tracking spell..." Dean looked down at his fingers. This whole plan made him uncomfortable, but he was completely out of ideas, except for this. Dean swallowed, looked Bobby in the eyes and said  "I need you to find my amulet...the one Sam gave me."

"Why? You gonna try to find God again?" Bobby asked.

"Actually, you're not that far off." Dean cleared his throat, "Look, Bobby- Cas is pretty sure Heaven's going to collapse completely from all the infighting if we don't do something. He thinks we can use the amulet to uh...to make a call, so to speak."

"Uh-huh." Bobby stood up, "Well, ok then." He walked towards the fireplace and opened the small panel under the mantle where he kept his journal. He walked back over to Dean, and put an envelope on the desk, in front of Dean "Don't need a tracking spell."

Dean opened the envelope and let the familiar weight of the horned amulet fall into his hand. "How did you-"

"Sam gave it to me, right before we went to find Lucifer. He said you didn't want it anymore, but maybe you'd need it again some day." Bobby took a swig of his beer, "Guess he was right."

"Bobby, I uh...thanks." Dean paused and slipped the worn cord over his head. "I don't know how this is all gonna end, but it- it looks pretty bad right now. All these angels fighting each other- I don't think they even know why they're fighting anymore, half the time...anyway Cas and I are gonna try this one last thing. If I don't make it back, can you-"

"Dean, where's Sam, in all of this? I don't get it. He was helping you, right? I mean, no matter what he can do now, he's still your brother."

Dean stood up, exhaled heavily and said, "Sam is complicated."


	3. Omega

The elevator doors opened, and Sam stepped outside.

The Garden was particularly mundane in it's current incarnation - a rooftop sprawl, sloppy and incomplete, and somewhere deep inside that offended him. Granted, the Host hadn't put up much of a fight, but still - Sam was _here_ , in the inner sanctum, uninvited, unwelcome and so very, very angry.

"I know you can hear me." Sam started, "I'm sure this has all been hilarious to you, watching me try _everything_ to free Michael, and failing over and _over_. Do you know how many angels have died trying to help me free him? How many died trying to stop me? Do you have any idea? Do you even care?!"

Sam walked over to a statue of a cherub and glared at it. He reached down to his hip sheath, pulled out the small scythe he'd brought along and brought the curved point of it straight down into the cherub's head. "Death says hi, by the way."

Sam sighed, "All I want is for you to free him! That's it! I...I can't be here, I can't do this, knowing he's still down there forever...all because he listened to **_you_**. I swear, I will get him out. If I have to tear down Heaven to-" and then Sam saw it.

The Throne, much like the Garden, was ever-changing, but he knew with certainty what he was looking at. It was a plain, wooden chair - oak, worn, and the hypocenter of all of Creation.

Sam Winchester, the Morningstar, closed his eyes, took a seat and felt reality heave and strain as it struggled to realign itself.

 

 

 


	4. Intrinsic

"You wanna elaborate on that?" Bobby said, watching Dean as he came back from the kitchen with two more beers.

Dean let himself fall back into his chair with a thump. "No, not really...but you need to know the whole deal." Dean put his bottle down on the desk, looked Bobby right in the eyes and continued, "Remember a few weeks ago, when Meg set that trap for us at the warehouse?"

"Yeah, that's when you said Sam's wall came down, and his powers kicked back in big time."

"Understatement." Dean pulled the beer bottle closer and drank deeply before setting it back down, "So Meg called a ton of Hellhounds in to kill us. Thirty easy. She had me and Sam pinned, and Sam just...just frees himself and puts his arm out and the Hellhounds just start exploding all around us. Then he takes out Meg like it's nothing."

"-and, I mean I hate that I even have to ask, but- we're sure he hasn't been drinking demon blood again?" Bobby asks, uneasy.

"No. Even when he was, he was never...his eyes were _glowing_ , Bobby. They were white, not like Lilith-white, but like..." Dean looked down and found the amulet - back where it should be "The only time I've ever seen anything that bright is when I stabbed that dick Zachariah. Or when we saw Lucifer escape back at that convent. It was _grace_ , and I think we both know whose."

Bobby leaned back in his chair a bit, "You know, I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why is it that you both still have eyes?"

"Well, I mean _technically_ we've both been dead a few times now."

"You know what I mean. Why could you just stare at Zachariah while he was dying? Why could Sam stare at Lucifer when he was busting out? You never wonder 'bout that?"

"Well if I had to guess, it's probably because we're both vessels" Dean scoffed.

"Mmmhmm. So, don't you think that gives you a certain innate advantage dealing with Sam, even if he's all...whatever he is now?"

"He's still got my back. You don't have to worry about that." Dean fidgeted remembering the rather spectacular reminder of that fact he'd had when he'd been confronted by the unluckiest group of angels to ever set foot near him. They'd muttered something about using him as a 'bargaining chip' and then tried to grab him, there was a _blast-wave_ , and then Dean was shaking his head trying to get his eyes and ears to start working again. He could just make out Sam, who nodded once and then vanished. That was the last time he'd seen Sam.

Bobby glared at him impatiently,"Ok, so then why don't you just-"

"Dean. We need to go, now." Castiel announced from directly behind Dean's chair, causing Dean to nearly drop his beer bottle.

"Hello to you too, Cas. What happened now?" Dean said, turning to face Castiel.

"Something is...very wrong. There's been- I guess you could call it an earthquake. A massive one."

"In Heaven?" Dean chuckled, "How does that work when there's no earth?"

"I don't have time to explain. Whatever happened, it sent a shockwave all the way from Heaven down to here. Down to a very specific location."

"Where?" Bobby asked, getting out of his chair.

"Stull Cemetery."


	5. And All the King's Men

Stull Cemetery hadn't looked quite this...chaotic, the last time Dean had been here. Castiel had zapped them both to the outskirts of the cemetery ground, but Dean knew that only because of the cemetery sign he was standing on top of.

The ground in the cemetery was mostly gone. In its place was a vast pit. The weirdest part though was that pieces of the torn up earth were hovering in the air, stretching upwards for miles. It was like some giant hand had reached down, dug out a handful of earth and then retracted, leaving chunks of the ground stuck in it's wake as though the air itself were made of amber.

"Cas, what the Hell is this?" Dean asked.

"I believe someone attempted to open the Cage." said Castiel, gazing upward at the trail of earth.

"Gee, ya think?" Dean walked forward, onto the cemetery grounds, some morbid curiosity pushing him to peer over the edge and see what he could see.

Castiel grabbed his arm, "Dean don't go any closer, it's-" and then there was a blinding light and Dean was staring at a lobby of an office building.

"Ok...and, where are we now?" Dean asked, looking around and trying to take in his new surroundings.

Castiel was staring at the far wall, which had some of the ugliest wallpaper Dean had ever seen. It was some modern art type print, all random splashes of red paint and black feathers, and..."Oh,"Dean swallowed, "is that what I think it is?"

"Yes." said Castiel and turned away from the remains of his brethren to head toward the elevators.

There were no buttons on the inside of the elevator, but it dinged politely once Dean followed Castiel in and started going up. It opened again, moments later onto a hallway covered in a far thicker, and far more gruesome mass of feathers and blood. Though Dean couldn't see any light fixtures, there had to be some, because they were flickering.

Dean saw Castiel heading toward a large set of ebony double doors and went after him.

A weak snort came from behind them. "You're a bit late, Castiel." Raphael wheezed. He was slouched against the wall in the corner of the elevator bank.

Castiel turned to face him, "Raphael. What happened here? Did you free Michael?"

Raphael laughed loudly until it turned into a hacking cough. "Michael? No, no if I had been the one to free him, do you think any of this would have happened?" Raphael pushed himself slowly to his feet and leaned back against the wall again for support. "It's done, Castiel. We're all done. The Traitor has taken the Throne."

Castiel stared at Raphael, "That's...not possible. If that had happened, wouldn't we all know by now? Wouldn't Earth be burning?"

"Maybe he wanted Michael to witness the end of our Father's creation? I don't know, I don't care, but what I do know is that because of you, we missed our chance to stop him. This is your doing Castiel. You and your insistence on breaking every rule, disobeying every command. You may as well go in there right now and fall to your knees. You've served the Morningstar well." Raphael's anger was palpable, but Dean didn't really care.

"You think this is Castiel's fault? He did nothing but try to stop all this crap! That's all he's ever done!" Dean would have probably gone on, but despite their heated arguing, all three of them heard an audible click as the doors opened.

Dean turned to ask Castiel if they should go in, but he was gone. Raphael had vanished too. _The two probably fluttered inside without me. Awesome._ thought Dean, and went to open the doors further. Whatever was through the doors was unbearably bright. Dean blinked as he walked forward, until he could see again.

He was in what looked like an endless desert. Barren except for thousands of vines running along the ground. They were rose vines. _Of course they're rose vines._

"So...is this a bad sign?"  When he got no answer, he looked behind him, looked all around him, but couldn't find either angel, or any sign of the doors.

Dean walked for a few minutes in silence, more creeped out than he would have cared to admit, until he saw a massive, pale tree up ahead.

The vines ran closer together the further he walked and met at the base of the tree. Dean was close enough to be under its branches, where it was raining. He wiped a stray drop from his cheek with his thumb only to find it stained red with blood. Dean looked up again and saw that it was an apple tree. It wasn't just pale, it was completely, impossibly white, down to the leaves; only the apples were red, and dripping.

At the base of the tree was Sam. He was huddled over something hidden from Dean's view and his shoulders were shaking. Dean recognized the sight for what it was immediately. Sam was crying.

As he got closer, he heard him saying over and over, "No, no, no, no..." the closer he got to the tree, the more details he noticed. At first he'd thought the trunk was warped where Sam was kneeling, but that wasn't all there was to it. The tree itself was shaped differently here. There was a throne built into the trunk of the tree, huge and pristine. Steps led down from it, and at the foot of those steps, no longer completely obscured by Sam was something that looked almost like a person.

When he was close enough to reach out and touch his shoulder, Dean spoke, "Sam?"  He leaned closer and nearly touched his shoulder, when Sam turned to him. As he did, Dean could see that whatever he was holding was running through his fingers like sand.     

Sam's eyes were twin suns again, and when he spoke, Dean felt every word echo through his bones. "I got him out. I promised him I would, and I did, but...he's not...something's wrong." Sam turned back and gently pushed the shimmering mass that had slipped through his grip back together. As Dean watched, he could see a humanoid form taking shape.

"Opening the Cage was easy, after..." Sam stopped, and leaned forward, inspecting his handiwork. Sam's fingers were around what would be the face of the person. As he sat back up, Dean thought he could see eyes, a hazy mirror of Sam's own, glowing softly. "...but he won't wake up. I know he's here, but he's...he's broken. I can't- why can't I fix him? I can't fix him. I keep trying and he keeps falling apart."

"Michael? Is that Michael, Sam?" Dean asked, suddenly feeling a sense of dread. "You got him out, but how long was he down there? I mean, Hell does a number on every-"

" **He was fine!** " Sam bellowed, and Dean fell, landing in an undignified sprawl. "He was fine," Sam repeated, "I could hear him, I could feel his relief when I finally cracked the Cage wide open, but then I went to get him out and there was something there, trying to stop me, and I pulled harder and I got him free, but..."

Dean never did learn. He got back up, walked over to where Sam sat with what was left of Michael, and knelt beside him. "It's not your fault."

Sam looked toward him but not at him and then snarled, "No, it's _yours_." and grabbed for the amulet around Dean's neck.

"M-mine?" Dean stuttered, scrambling backwards, but Sam was facing away from him, staring at the amulet he'd torn free which had come flaring to life, burning so brilliantly Dean had to look away. Dean closed his eyes, and listened.

Sam's voice was everywhere, inescapable, and Dean could feel his anger - moments away from crushing...everything " **You did this! You coward! I know you can hear me! Give him back! Give him back or I'll-** "

"Or you'll what?" Dean asked. "Destroy the world? How is that gonna help?" Dean had no idea if Sam was listening to him, or not, so he went on, "Listen to me, for just one minute ok?"

He heard, distantly, the muffled clatter of metal, which Dean imagined had to have been Sam flinging the amulet somewhere far away. Dean breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he could open his eyes again.  He sat up a little straighter and continued,  "One of the last times we saw each other, I asked you what it felt like, remember?"

Sam was sitting back at the foot of the tree, at the foot of the Throne. He looked at Dean, and his eyes were hazel and human, "You asked me what it was like to be Lucifer...I told you I'd always been him." Moment over, Sam turned his attention back down to Michael.

"You said -  'We're two halves made whole'. I thought it was a load of crap at the time, honestly, but...considering everything..." Dean couldn't think of anything else to explain what he had suddenly realized, so he just kept going, "Anyway... do you think it's the same with Michael and me? Do you think, we're connected too?"

Sam remained focused on Michael, "What if you were?"

"I just thought, maybe...I could help? If I said yes to him, now - would that even work? I mean, do you think there's a chance it could bring him back?"

When Sam looked at him again, Dean couldn't read Sam's eyes at all.  They were still hazel, but they were anything but human. The Morningstar was looking at him, and he was ancient, immensely powerful and considering Dean very, very thoroughly.

"It might save him. It might destroy you. Nothing like this has ever happened before." Sam looked at Dean expectantly, and continued, "Why would you even offer something like this, now, after fighting it your whole life?"

Dean smiled,  "That's easy- because I know what it's like to lose your brother. I know what it's like to wish the world would just go away so you didn't have to feel so damn alone all the time. I know you know it too Sam, and I know that's what's making this so much worse." Dean looked back down at Michael, "Whatever Lucifer would've felt about this, I know you agree with him one hundred percent, and honestly...I'm kind of surprised the world is still standing. Well, mostly."

Sam broke his gaze, looked back down, and ran his fingers over Michael's forehead.  "He's still there, I know he is."

"Ok then," Dean looked down at Michael, at his featureless face, and said softly, "Yes."

**Author's Note:**

> first chapter original posted on this thread:http://community.livejournal.com/spnquotefic/10698.html?thread=653770#t653770
> 
> for the prompt: Ballard: Going somewhere, Sam?


End file.
